Tag Archives: high hopes

The following is a brief profile of one of the athletes I interviewed. To see future updates by email, subscribe to my blog on this page.

Jean Completing the 13-ers

Jean Aschenbrenner is a rock climber who lives in Boulder, Colorado, and who was the first woman to climb all of Colorado’s mountains over 13,000 feet in elevation. Jean visited Colorado as a prerequisite trip in order to travel to Europe with her Girl Scout troupe when she was in high school. It was on that trip that Jean reached the top of her first 14,000 foot mountain, Pike Peak, and fell in love with the mountains. Jean rock climbed for the first time when she was in college, and recalls how she loved the feel of the rock, and the physical challenge. After college, Jean spent time in Kenya with the Peace Corps and climbed many peaks during her time abroad. Jean returned to Colorado where the mountains have once again captured her imagination and given her countless days of joy.

I also created a High Hopes page. This page is for me, and you if you desire, to get our fix of the song High Hopes, which has become somewhat of a personal theme song for my wife Sylvia and me. When my wife Sylvia recently was feeling down because she had a very slow week in her restaurant, I got her singing High Hopes while we had our morning coffee in bed. Some days when I’m feeling a bit overdrawn at the energy bank due to my job, my work on my book, and my work on the 50-k Active/Athlete Challenge, I sing High Hopes to keep plugging. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. http://athletes.50interviews.com/high-hopes-fix/

Myrna Hagg, who I interviewed back in August, just published her book, Six Steps to Never Diet Again. Read about it and see a couple cool video clips at http://www.myrnahaag.com/

I’m very excited about the event I’m having on 10/24 in Fort Collins, Colorado to celebrate my first book and launch the 50-k Active/Athlete Challenge. Thirty people are registered, and I have people from the City of Fort Collins, local organizations that promote health, local sports related business owners, local politicians, some of the athletes I interviewed, as well as friends and supporters attending. I plan on showing a multi-media piece that I created at the event that I hope everyone will like. It will hit the internet on 10/25 at www.50-k.net, so keep your eyes open.

If you like what I’m doing and want to support me, please tell everyone you can think of about the 50-k Active Challenge and send them to www.50-k.net. 50,000 is a big number and 10/10/2010 is looming.

If you haven’t already, please register for the Challenge at 50-k.net. By registering you will be commiting to yourself that you will get more active. If you’re already active, you will be helping me elevate the conversation about the importance of living an active life. I would love for the media to spend equal time publicizing Health Reform as they do publicizing Health Care Reform. Stand up and be counted by registering at www.50-k.net!

My goal of recruiting 50,000 people to adopt the healthy habits from the athletes I’ve interviewed, is less than a year away – 10/10/2010. As of today, there are somewhere between 110 and 130 people registered. It’s hard to say, because some people who originally registered on facebook, have not reregistered on 50-k.net, where I’m keeping the official tally. I’m hoping that supporters will make that effort soon, but it has been a hurdle.

I’m putting lots of energy into promoting the 50-k Challenge, and there are quite a few things going on. I recently posted a cool slide show of some of the athletes I interviewed on http://www.50-k.net. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Soon I’ll be writing on 50.k.net about the second step in the 50-k Challenge process, setting goals. I feel that goals get cemented when we write them down and make them public. I felt the power of this when I was in college and trying to qualify for the NCAA championships in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. I had been running in the 9:30s, while the qualifying standard was 9:18. I felt that I could qualify and that became my goal. In fact, I thought I could run 9:14, so I made up a poster with 9:14.0 written in big, bold letters and hung it on the wall above my bed. Every day I would see that sign, as would my roomate or others that entered my room. I began lowering my time into the 9:20’s, but when I got to the last regular season race, I still had not quaified. In that last race, guess what I ran….9:14.0!

There was another time when my college cross-country team, who had never placed higher than 18th in the NCAA championships, convinced ourselves we could place in the top 5. That summer, I made up posters that said “Top 5 in ’85” inside a map of the USA, and mailed these to the whole team. These were proudly diplayed in our appartments. That year we went undefeated and finished 3rd in the NCAA championships.

I call this the Power of Writing It Down (WID). I would love to hear your stories of the Power of WID, so please email them to me at don@50-k.net.

…So any time you’re feelin’ bad, just remember that ant…..Oops there goes another rubber tree, Oops there goes another rubber tree, Oops there goes another rubber tree plant……

If you want to shift to a healthier lifestyle or if you want to help me make a statement about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, please help me move those darn rubber trees by registering for the 50-k Active/Athlete Challenge at www.50-k.net!

Also, spread the word by letting your friends know about this blog and 50-k.net.